Maze Runner Preferances

Lightning

"Get up."

"Wake up!"

"For shucks sake move!"

Something shoved my shoulder lightly and I suddenly realized that I wasn't sleeping anymore. I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes to see Minho staring at me. I squinted against the wind blowing sand into my eyes.

"We got to go, a storm's heading this way," Minho said as he pulled me to my feet.

I apparently wasn't ready to get up yet and I stumbled before regaining my balance then looked out into the distance. There really was a storm coming. The sky was dark and in the distance there was a huge mass of clouds approaching fast.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Minho turned me around and pointed in the distance where tiny lights could be seen. In front of me the remaining Gladers, which wasn't very many, were packing our meager belongings. Thomas was running around the group, prodding the boys who weren't up yet.

"Come on, let's start moving." Minho grabbed my arm and we jogged forward through the group of Gladers, encouraging others to start running too.

We all moved in one big herd, grouped together as if it offered protection. Then the storm clouds rolled over us. The winds picked up and I could hardly see three feet in front of me. I wasn't sure if Minho and I were with the group anymore. The only reason I knew Minho was right next to me was because of the death grip he had on my arm.

When the first lightning strike hit for one moment I saw everything. Most of the Gladers were behind us and the group had spread out. The only good news was that our destination was getting closer, in fact we were almost there.

The storm seemed oddly unnatural, everything was more intense than it should have been. Suddenly what Ava Paige had said about the earth made sense, the solar flares really had screwed our planet up.

A second strike of lightning hit. I was able to watch it come down from the sky, only to hit Steve, one of the Gladers.

It was very sudden, one moment he was there and the next a crater was in his place with a sizzling mass at the center of it. I fought the urge to vomit as we ran past his smoking corpse.

The lightning came much faster after that. Minho and I were dodging the strikes while running at top speed.

I couldn't tell where the others were but I didn't have time to look either. It was everyone for themselves.

We were close to the lights, which turned out to be a warehouse. I smiled and looked at Minho. He smiled back at me. Then the lightning hit.

It was right next to him, I saw it come down. We were blasted back and I could smell burning flesh. Minho was still gripping my arm.

I sat there in shock for a moment, unable to process what happened. Then I saw Thomas run over and throw sand at Minho, putting out the flames. I slowly sat up, tears pouring down my face. Everything hurt and it felt like someone had melted all of my bones then fused them together.

I looked at Minho, who I knew was in much worse shape, but I couldn't see much through the sand. Was he dead? I got to my knees painfully and wrapped Minho's arm around my shoulder. We were getting to that building.

I tried to stand up with him but it was too much weight until Thomas grabbed Minho's other arm. Together we half dragged and half carried him to the lights.

We found a group of Gladers at the door who had broken their way in and they helped us pull Minho inside. I was able to take a few steps into the building then I collapsed next to Minho.

Someone turned on a flashlight and I was able to see the toll the lightning took on him. His shirt was burnt and had massive singed holes in it. His pants were no better and in the holes of his clothes burnt skin could be seen. He was all red and his hair, although intact, was slightly smoking.

His eyes flickered open and he let out the most terrible groan of pain. Then he looked over at me and smiled in spite of it all.

I couldn't help but smile back. "You're alive, shuckface."

"Can't get rid of me that easily." He laughed then cried out. I wanted to help but was afraid of hurting him more. Then he took my hand and managed to scoot himself closer to me very slowly. It was obvious what he wanted, so I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. He smiled softly.

"Hey, what is that?" Teresa said as she pointed her flashlight deeper into the shadows of the room.

Something launched itself out of the darkness and we all jumped backwards. Both Teresa and I screamed. It was horrifying. Skin was peeling off of it and it was covered head to toe in blood and something black. It snarled and growled at us but was chained and couldn't come any closer.

Soon a chorus of the sounds started and we realized we were trapped.

"I see you met our guard dogs." Someone spoke from the end of the room where light had poured in. It was a girl with short brown hair who couldn't have been more than eighteen.

I looked at Minho.

"Where can I find myself guard dogs like that?" he asked.